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Feeding the Vintage band babies

Posted by jenn SoCal 9/19 (My Page) on
Tue, Oct 23, 12 at 19:44

My new bands from Vintage (Granada and Angel Face -- both VID) have been in their 1-gal pots for a week (plastic nursery pots) and doing well after spending a week in the shade during a heat spell. Our temps have been cool this week so I gave them their first feeding last Friday, a weak solution of Foliage-Pro complete fertilizer (Dyna-Gro Foliage-Pro 9-3-6).

The Vintage site says to do the following after planting the bands:

Water in with a dilute organic fertilizer, [I used Foliage-Pro for this, though it is not certified organic] and follow up a week or so later with a top dressing of a time release fertilizer and a small handful of alfalfa pellets (rabbit food). Weekly feedings with a mild, organic liquid fertilizer like fish emulsion or kelp meal added to water are highly recommended.

I already have Rose-Tone time-release fert (which contains alfalfa meal) and fish emulsion (and also some liquid seaweed).

So, as long as days are cool, I'm planning the following:
-- A light sprinkle of the Rose-Tone this Friday (1 week following the initial feeding), and water in.
-- Alternate weekly thereafter with fish emulsion and Foliage-Pro.

Is there a problem with this plan?

Also: How moist should I keep the potting mix? The warmer the temps the more often I check, but if I haven't watered for a week and the soil feels damp, should I give them another liquid feeding?


Follow-Up Postings:

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RE: Feeding the Vintage band babies

  • Posted by hoovb z9 Southern CA (My Page) on
    Wed, Oct 24, 12 at 11:25

We are due for dessicating dry winds (Santa Anas) and heat yet again, sigh. Make sure you keep them hydrated. You might put the pots into the ground to keep them more moist during the Santa Ana spells.


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RE: Feeding the Vintage band babies

  • Posted by jenn SoCal 9/19 (My Page) on
    Wed, Oct 24, 12 at 18:34

I will do that -- thank you for the reminder. I'll tuck them in the shade and shelter of some large shrubs on the north side near the patio.


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RE: Feeding the Vintage band babies

I have mine on the side of the house where the winds won't beat them up. The wind is supposed to start tomorrow afternoon/evening for me. Waaaaaa! I had a stroll around the garden this afternoon looking at the flowers before they get thrashed by the wind. I even got a super huge Maria Callas bloom when the weather was in the 70s.

My bands were shipped during the heat snap and the pots were warm in my hands when I unpacked them. Poor things. They didn't lose any leaves however. They have blackspot everywhere. Did yours have that? I don't know if I should spray them when they are so small.


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RE: Feeding the Vintage band babies

I went out around sunset, and cut a few things for a vase, before the wind starts. I just HATE these drying winds. All the bloom we have now will be potpourri.

Jenn -- If you can water your little pots early and late, I would. Mulch piled around them is helpful.

And, in answer to your original question -- we DON'T feed them, in the 1-G containers. We'd rather just let them grow roots, rather than push topgrowth.

Time enough for that, when we move them up to 5- or 7-G pots, while they wait for a place in the ground.

Jeri


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RE: Feeding the Vintage band babies

  • Posted by jenn SoCal 9/19 (My Page) on
    Thu, Oct 25, 12 at 9:53

Kit - mine did not arrive with blackspot... sorry yours did. Mine did have some mildew on the leaves though.

Jeri - Wouldn't topgrowth aid in the production of roots? I definitely will not let buds form. I've been using the Foliage-Pro 9-3-6 to feed some Iris babies in pots -- I separated them yesterday and there are lots of roots. Not trying to argue, just wondering.


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RE: Feeding the Vintage band babies

  • Posted by minflick 9b/7, Boulder Creek, (My Page) on
    Thu, Oct 25, 12 at 17:40

Ignoramus question - bands - if you have a spot selected that isn't expected to kill off the baby before it gets large enough to endure stressful conditions, can it be directly planted, or is it a general rule of thumb to grow them up into a 1 or 2 gallon first?

This is hypothetical for me at the moment, but I have a band coming in the spring...


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RE: Feeding the Vintage band babies

Jenn -- Fertilizers tend to push the growth of canes and blooms. I don't particularly WANT big top-growth and bloom at that stage of the game. I just want sound roots.

I'm in no hurry, so I am happy to let them perk along and grow roots, and a little top growth. They usually explode in growth when I pot them up, and THEN I will feed them lightly.

Jeri


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RE: Feeding the Vintage band babies

  • Posted by jenn SoCal 9/19 (My Page) on
    Thu, Oct 25, 12 at 21:49

Thanks, Jeri. Perhaps a root stimulant such as liquid seaweed/kelp? (Can you tell I'm having a hard time with the no-fertilizer thing? :-)


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RE: Feeding the Vintage band babies

HAHAHA ... :-)
Jenn, some of us just feel we have to do SOMETHING.

I don't think dilute kelp would hurt at all. Just remember that you really don't want to push huge topgrowth at the expense of the roots. So, I'd avoid a lot of nitrogen, and I probably wouldn't use alfalfa tea, either.

AAMOF, my DH uses both willow water and Natures Nog (which contains kelp) when potting up cuttings for rooting. He will initially water them with a very mild solution, and that seems to push root formation along. He has a pretty good track record, so I don't think you could go too far wrong with dilute kelp solution.

Jeri


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RE: Feeding the Vintage band babies

I water my bands with the water from the fishtank water changes and that seems to be enough. The fish get the good bottled spring water so I think it's better than the tap water. There should be enough good stuff in the premium mix you are using to get the roots growing.

Minflick I grow my bands in pots up to the 5 gallon size before planting in the ground but I do not have any freezes or real winter weather where I am. Some people winter pots in a garage but I have no experience with that.


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RE: Feeding the Vintage band babies

  • Posted by jenn SoCal 9/19 (My Page) on
    Sat, Oct 27, 12 at 11:33

Still waiting for the Santa Anas... no sign of them where we are.


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RE: Feeding the Vintage band babies

Maybe you're going to skate, Jenn.

It blew badly, yesterday here at the coast. The wind is ramping up again, and it is hotter than it was yesterday. I mean, before Noon, it is hotter than yesterday's high.

Jeri


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RE: Feeding the Vintage band babies

  • Posted by minflick 9b/7, Boulder Creek, (My Page) on
    Sat, Oct 27, 12 at 17:31

Kitty - I have a tank, I could DO that! I'm in 9b, and we did get some nippy weather last winter (my first here, so not sure it's customary), I think we had 18 or so days where it got down to 28? No horrible storms after a big wind storm that hit the week before Thanksgiving and did lots of damage around the county, but none at my house, TG! I was relying on an online weather site to tell me how cold it was, aside from COLD, but I got myself some thermometers, so I'll see just how cold it gets here at MY house, not a mile down the road and up the hill.

Last winter was quite the learning experience, as I lost a lot of plants - sob, wail! I replaced some of them, and this year I've moved some stuff into the house, and walled the cats away with chicken wire. REALLY hope it works and they don't mess with them, or eat them (and poison themselves!) Other stuff I've resigned myself to not having again while I live here.


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RE: Feeding the Vintage band babies

Jeri et al, how long--generally--does it take your bands to progress to five or seven gallons?

Thanks,

Colleen


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RE: Feeding the Vintage band babies

Today was dry but no nasty blowing winds and I moved my bands out of hiding. I picked off the worst of the BS leaves and am going to observe them. Heaps and Heaps of leaves and twigs everywhere. It took me all day Today to rake it all up. A limb tore off and hit the window Friday and made me jump. All my Pink Lady apples got blown off the tree before they got ripe but the pomegranates managed to hang on.


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